About Riverina Water
What is Riverina Water?
Riverina Water County Council is the public water utility for a large slice of southern New South Wales — providing "quality drinking water to more than 77,000 people across 15,000 square kilometres" spanning Wagga Wagga and the surrounding Lockhart and Greater Hume council areas, with 33,000+ connections. Formed on 2 May 1997 as a special-purpose county council under the Local Government Act 1993, its lineage reaches back to the Southern Riverina County Council of 1938, which also ran regional electricity from 1942 to 1995. The Murrumbidgee River at Wagga Wagga is its principal surface source, with groundwater bores now supplying around three-quarters of production. Its stated mission: "To provide our community with safe, reliable water at the lowest sustainable cost."
Where will I work?
Riverina Water's headquarters and depot at 91 Hammond Ave, Wagga Wagga — the largest inland city in New South Wales. Roles span engineering, water operations, laboratory science, finance, customer service and corporate services for a workforce of roughly 90 people.
What is the Riverina Water team like?
A compact utility workforce with professional leadership ambitions — the council's vision is to "Provide passionate and professional leadership in the water industry", and it is a WORK180-endorsed Employer of Choice, meaning "our policies, benefits and workplace practices have been independently reviewed against industry standards".
Work-Life Balance
The 9-day fortnight is on the council's own careers page as a workforce-wide benefit, verbatim: "Flexible working arrangements - rostered day off on a 9-day fortnight; job share and flexible work arrangements." The same page states its conditions "exceed the local government standard" set by the NSW Local Government (State) Award, whose indoor-staff standard is a 35-hour week (70 hours per fortnight) — so the fortnight here means a genuine rostered day off, not compressed hours. (Riverina Water operates under its own enterprise agreement; the hours basis above is the NSW award standard.)
Perks and Benefits
- Rostered day off on a 9-day fortnight, plus job share and flexible work arrangements
- "Competitive salaries and superannuation (17.5%)"
- Four weeks accrued annual leave with purchased-leave options up to two extra weeks per year
- 14 weeks paid primary-carer parental leave + up to 3 weeks paid supporting-parent leave
- Long service leave after 5 years; health & wellbeing leave up to 2 days per year
- Fitness Passport discounted gym membership, EAP, and professional development/educational assistance